Cannes Lions 2014: Grand Prix Winners in Cyber Category

Cannes Lions, The International Festival of Creativity, took place just last week and I was fortunate enough to be there in person, taking it all in.

During the second of the four awards nights, this year’s winners in the Cyber category were announced, which I felt was important to cover here because it’s relevance to our industry of digital marketing.

24 Hours of Happy

Iconoclast Paris of France took home the Grand Prix in the Cyber Craft category for “Pharrell Williams – 24 Hours of Happy” which they created for Universal/Iamother.

Pharrell Williams literally created a 24-hour music video for his song “Happy,” which was filmed across L.A. from morning till night.

His song was repeated on loop a total of 360 times, making it longest music video ever made, eclipsing Michael Jackson’s 39-minute epic “Ghosts.”

Live Test Series: Volvo Trucks

Forsman & Bodenfors Gothenburg of Sweden took home the Grand Prix in the Cyber Social category for “Live Test Series,” created for Volvo Trucks.

The idea behind this campaign was to carry out extreme tests of Volvo’s product features. The tests were conducted in a live setting where the outcome couldn’t be controlled.

It engaged audiences all while marketing the feature of Volvo’s new truck.

The Scarecrow: Chipotle Mexican Grill

Creative Artists Agency of Los Angeles took home a Grand Prix in the Cyber category, in a sub-category for Branded Games, Branded Tech and Integrated Multiplatform Campaign. They won for “The Scarecrow,” created for Chipotle Mexican Grill.

The best way to describe this ad an animated “informercial” to raise awareness about anti-factory-farming, but it’s so much more than that. Here’s how the creators describe it:

“In a dystopian fantasy world, all food production is controlled by fictional industrial giant Crow Foods. Scarecrows have been displaced from their traditional role of protecting food, and are now servants to the crows and their evil plans to dominate the food system. Dreaming of something better, a lone scarecrow sets out to provide an alternative to the unsustainable processed food from the factory.”

In a time where digital marketing campaigns are becoming increasingly homogenous, these creative advertisements prove that the most effective campaigns are often the most unusual. The campaigns that think outside of the box and go against the grain are the ones that catch our attention, spark our curiosity, and ultimately inspire action.